O Dreamland

Film

This documentary about a day in the life of the “funfair” (aka amusement park) in Margate, England was an important contribution to the British ”Free Cinema” movement of the fifties but Anderson’s intentions with the film are hotly debated. Was he paying affectionate tribute to the joys of the working class or is it a scathing critique on the shabbiness of modern life with all its fakery and bad food? You decide. In any case this is a landmark of analogue cinema - the equivalent of a scatchy old 78’record.